The Warm-Up: Leeds lose to Arsenal, but you'll be seeing more of them
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Updated 07/01/2020 at 13:09 GMT
Think of Monday night's terrific performance by Leeds against Arsenal as an amuse bouche for what you're likely to see in the Premier League next season.
Nicolas Pepe of Arsenal takes on Gaetano Berardi and Ezgjan Alioski of Leeds United during the FA Cup Third Round match between Arsenal FC and Leeds United at the Emirates Stadium on January 06, 2020
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
This is Leeds United. You’ll be seeing a lot more of them
For anybody that didn’t watch Monday night’s FA Cup third round game between Arsenal and Leeds United and just looked at the result, you might have been forgiven for thinking that it was a narrow but relatively routine win for the Premier League side over the Championship leaders.
But if you did watch, then the only team you’ll probably remember from the game is the one that lost. Leeds were simply exceptional in the first-half, and if they had a better striker than Patrick Bamford – who dithered on a few occasions rather than putting away some of the many chances they created – then they probably would have been at least 3-0 up at half-time.
Arsenal, who looked rather surprised that Leeds were that good despite being warned by Mikel Arteta, woke up in the second-half, played more like they should have in the first and won thanks to a scrambled Reiss Nelson effort. But only after a coating from Arteta. “He shouted a lot,” said Alexandre Lacazette about how their manager reacted at the break.
But you’ll be well advised to familiarise yourself with this Leeds team because, them being top of the Championship and nine points clear of third place, the chances are you’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the Premier League next season.
“They’re a nightmare,” said Arteta after the game. “Playing against them is like going to the dentist. They’re a great team. What they have built there is powerful.”
Can United pull off another weird surprise against City?
The Manchester derby has always been a fixture worth clearing your diary for even when at least one of the teams involved has been terrible. Theoretically that’s almost the case this time, with City streets ahead of United in terms of player quality, coaching and recent achievements, but tonight’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg is leant a little extra spice by the recent league game between the two, when United somehow managed a win over their neighbours (who are making a moderate noise these days: loud but not enough to call the council over) and threw all we previously knew to be certain into the wind.
What can we expect this time? Well, at the very least it’s interesting that City have been experimenting with a different formation recently, a three-at-the-back system which seems ostensibly designed to stop a counter-attack, which is how United won that game a few weeks ago. Has Pep Guardiola really altered his entire side in order to prevent a repeast of that embarrassment?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is, in the general collective consciousness, not a tactical genius, but he does occasionally pull these things out of the bag. For his part he managed to plant the idea of City’s ‘tactical fouling’ without directly accusing them of tactical fouling, which was quite nicely done.
“We got past their press last time and, if you count the numbers of fouls, I don’t think there were too many,” said Solskjær. “That’s a big thing and sometimes I look at the referees and I look at our games and, even if they are just little fouls, there have been teams who have stopped us with these little fouls – which has stopped us showing how good we are when we attack.”
Ah yes, that’s the problem. It should be a nice ‘n’ spicy one anyhow. Tune in.
Spurs investigate Rudiger claims, find no evidence
Tottenham have, over the past couple of weeks, conducted what sounds like a relatively thorough investigation into Antonio Rudiger’s claims that he was racially abused during Chelsea’s 2-0 win at White Hart Lane last month.
However, on Monday they confirmed that no clear evidence could be found to back up Rudiger’s accusations, so neither they nor the Met police could do anything about it. They said in a statement:
We carried out extensive reviews of CCTV images and footage, working with professional lip readers. All materials and reports have now also been reviewed by the police who have carried out their own investigation. The police have notified us today that, having reviewed and investigated, they have closed the crime report as they can find no evidence to support the allegation of racial abuse. We fully support Antonio Rudiger with the action that he took – however there is no evidence to corroborate or contradict the allegation and as such neither ourselves nor the police are in a position to take any further action.
It’s worth reiterating that there is of course a big difference between the club not being able to find any evidence, and the accusations being untrue, or maliciously made. Perhaps there was abuse. Perhaps Rudiger misinterpreted something. But if your instant response is to demand apologies or accuse Rudiger of making things up, as some have inevitably done on various fetid corners of the internet, then you’re part of the problem.
IN OTHER NEWS
Presumably New York City fans will be delighted to hear that their new manager is nearly – not actually, but nearly – moved to some sort of emotion after being appointed. Almost. Close enough.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Romelu Lukaku
With just over half the season gone, Romelu Lukaku has already scored more goals for Inter than he did in the whole of last season for Manchester United. Given the issues with racism, and an apparent unwillingness to deal with them that still exist in Serie A, it was a brave call from Lukaku to move to Inter in the summer, but it’s paying off nicely: he’s on pace for the best goalscoring season of his career, and Inter top the division, albeit only on goal difference above Juventus.
Zero: Jose Mourinho
I think this ball is beach ball. It’s too light. I don’t think it helps the players. But that’s not an excuse.
We missed this absolute honker of an excu…sorry, not an excuse from Jose Mourinho after Tottenham’s 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough on Sunday. Presumably it’s the lightness of the ball that has prevented Spurs from keeping a clean sheet in all but one of their games under Mourinho. Yes. That’s probably it. A light ball.
HAT TIP
The comparison between the two line-ups is not made in order to show that the FA Cup is less compelling that it once was, nor is it meant to be a criticism of Liverpool. Their starting line-up was only sensible given the demands made of Klopp’s squad over Christmas. The comparison is instead drawn in order to pose a question: in 2020, just how feasible – or just how desirable, even – is it to win the treble?
For the Independent, Mark Critchley looks at the task Liverpool face if they want to emulate the Manchester United side of 21 years ago and win the treble.
RETRO CORNER
On this day in 2007, Henrik Larsson scores on his debut for Manchester United, against Aston Villa – managed by his old Celtic boss Martin O’Neill – in the FA Cup. His was a slightly odd time at United: this was one of only three goals, but you’ll struggle to find a United player around at the time who has anything but glowing praise for Larsson, and include Alex Ferguson in that too.
“We acquired a real aristocrat,” Ferguson wrote in his autobiography. “He looked a natural Man United player with his movement and courage. “On arrival, he seemed a bit of a cult figure with our players. They would say his name in awed tones. Cult status can vanish in two minutes if a player isn’t doing his job, yet Henrik retained that aura in his time with us.”
COMING UP
Make fun of it all you want, the two-legged League Cup semi-finals have plenty of history to them, and certainly used to be massive events. Tonight is the first leg of the first tie, as the two Manchester clubs go nose-to-nose.
And here to tell you about that nose-to-nosing tomorrow will be the venerable Ben Snowball.
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